Know It & Admit It

There are two kinds of people in the world; people who are broken and sinful and know it and people who are broken and sinful and won’t admit it.  Rick Warren

Do you know you are broken?  You know what I am talking about.  You can look back on your life and see the places where you are broken but there are two kinds of people in the world.  Those who understand and accept their brokenness and those who pretend that they aren’t broken and will do everything they can to hide what is broken inside. 

I remember years ago when I was a kid I had this really cool, (at least I thought it was), turquoise bike.  It had a white banana seat with turquoise and white fringe that hung from the handlebars and a bell that you could ring to warn people to get out of the way.  I wasn’t mechanically inclined back then, but every once in a while the chain that operated my super turbo charged bike would come off.  The problem with that is I could never get the chain back on and without it my turbo turned into a no go.  When that happened I would have to go to my Dad and get him to put the chain back on.

If you have ever tried to get anywhere when the chain comes off your bike you know that basically you are literally left spinning your wheels.  Until you fix it you will never get far. 

When I thought of this story it started me thinking about how we are often just like that broken bicycle chain. We are a broken people.  Each one of us is plagued with brokenness.  The problem is some of us know it and admit it and others of us know it but won’t admit it.

If you are broken and know it, you will admit and confess the brokenness to someone else.  If may be a close friend or family member that you confess your brokenness to, but you will confess it. What happens when you do this is that you start the healing process.  Just as I went to my Dad all those years ago to fix my broken bike, I must turn to others to fix my broken self. 

What happens when you don’t admit you’re broken?  You get nowhere.  It is like riding a bicycle with no chain.  The pedals will spin but you don’t move forward.  When we are broken and won’t admit it, we are consumed with guilt.  When we don’t share it with someone we trust and who will love us unconditionally, the brokenness of sin will take over our life and turn into guilt.  We pretend that we have it all together even when others can see we don’t.  If you think about it we become a master of disguises. 

God created us to need others.  We go to Him for forgiveness and we go to others for healing.  If your chain is broken, share it with someone who loves you unconditionally and let the healing begin. 

  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am broken and I admit it.  I need Your forgiveness for my sin and brokenness, but I need others for healing.  Help me to be transparent when it comes to my brokenness.  If I share the broken parts of me it will lead to healing.  You know all of us are broken, yet You love us anyway.  I praise You for continuing to pursue me even when I don’t deserve it.  A love like Yours is priceless. 

     

Scripture: Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.  James 5:16-20